Why do people
reject the facts, even when faced with rock-solid
evidence?

It's a question
three Australian researchers and filmmakers sought to tackle
in Up Stream, a documentary just launched on Youtube
that explores the reasons why people often don't act on
facts.

In a column on The Conversation, the
researchers Will J Grant and Luke Menzies point out that
three decades of social science and behavioural research
have identified clearly the ways people reach their own
conclusions, but that little of this has filtered down into
how science communication is undertaken.

The crowd-funded documentary grew
out of a trip the researchers took across Australia with
climate scientists, visiting rural communities to listen to
their opinions and concerns about climate change.

"We encountered communities eager to hear and
discuss - and plan for - their climate futures. In other
places we encountered communities that didn't want a bar of
it; communities who saw us and our scientists as an
intrusion," the researchers write.

"Their concerns
weren't with the climate projections, but with everything we
stood for. We didn't heal any big divides - but this
reception did point us towards new ways of thinking."

The
documentary is available in full for free on Youtube. It was
filmed by University of Otago science communication graduate
Daniel Hunter. The documentary makers urge scientists to
engage in science communication that reflects the evidence
that identifies the barriers to people accepting science,
particularly on controversial topics like vaccination and
genetic engineering.

"It's clear we need to do better,"
conclude Grant and Menzies.

"We hope that by building
greater cooperation between the social and physical
sciences, between communicators and those planning their
next decades of research, we can start to turn the tide on
the rejection of science. We hope this documentary becomes a
stepping stone in the right direction."

According to the SCAR
website, the conference goal is to develop a "collective,
community-based vision of the 100 highest priority
scientific questions will be developed to assist in
strategic planning; influence future directions in Antarctic
research; highlight opportunities for collaborations and
synergies; identify future critical infrastructure,
logistical, and technological needs; and inform
international decisions about investments in the Antarctic
scientific enterprise."

In short, their aim was to come up
with the most important questions about Antarctica that need
to be answered in the next 20 years. In the last few months
scientists submitted over 800 questions, which were culled
to about 100 over the three days of the
conference.

"They were questions about how ice sheets relate
to sea level, changes in the ocean, changes in the
atmosphere and also changes in weather and long-term climate
patterns," said American oceanographer
Chuck Kennicutt, Chair of the SCAR steering committee which
organised the meeting.

Seal level rise and ocean
acidification were just some of the issues raised which
could have a major impact on New Zealand over the next two
decades.

Food council: Food Safety and
Assurance Advisory Council is being set up to provide
independent advice to the government on issues relating to
food safety in the wake of the whey protein contamination
incident.

Hunting council: the Government
has appointed 11 members to the inaugural Game Animal
Council representing hunters of deer, tahr, chamois and
pigs.

Helping journalists
do a better job of covering science is at the core of what
we do. But we have found that the key to quality media
reporting on science is the ability of scientists to
communicate effectively.

From preparing your messages and
working with your comms team to engaging in social media and
blogging, the Desk Guide lays out what our experience shows
work. The Desk Guide features input from New Zealand's
leading science communicators, journalists and
communications experts.

Parasite
promotes promiscuity in NZ Snails: New
Zealandfreshwater mud snails have more sex and do it with
more partners if infected by a parasite which eventually
leaves them sterile, according to a US study. The authors
suggest that the snails increase their mating frequency and
promiscuity to ensure production of a genetically variable
brood of offspring before being rendered infertile by the
parasite.

'Shocking' gene therapy
for cochlear implants? Researchers have used
electrical pulses combined with gene therapy to boost the
growth of damaged auditory nerves around the electrodes of a
cochlear implants to improved hearing in a guinea pig model
of deafness. Images and video available.

Manure harbours
antibiotic resistance genes: Manure from dairy
cows, which is commonly used as a farm soil fertilizer,
contains a surprising number of newly identified antibiotic
resistance genes from the cows' gut bacteria. The findings
of a new US study hint that cow manure is a potential source
of new types of antibiotic resistance genes that transfer to
bacteria in the soils where food is grown.

Citizen
scientists keep a sharp eye on sharks: Shark data
collected by recreational divers may be as reliable as data
collected using automated tools, according to a new study.
According to the authors, the research validates using
citizen scientists for cheaper and more wide ranging data
collection in marine research.

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